ALEXANDRIA, Va., Dec. 9 -- United States Patent no. 12,491,546, issued on Dec. 9, was assigned to Suntory Holdings Ltd. (Osaka, Japan).
"Container washing facility" was invented by Naohiko Ogawa (Inuyama, Japan), Masashi Tanaka (Inuyama, Japan), Takashi Inoue (Inuyama, Japan) and Toshiki Iwasaki (Inuyama, Japan).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "To save washing water, a container washing facility for washing an inner surface of a can (2) before the can (2) is filled with a material includes a conveyor (9) that conveys the can (2) at least in a posture of being inverted with an opening (2a) of the can (2) facing downward, a cleaning air jetting unit (10) located along a conveying path of the can (...